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The main product of the Electronic Materials Business is high purity polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon). The raw material of polysilicon is metallurgical silicon. In order to purify silicon, the metallurgical silicon is turned into trichlorosilane and purified through distillation processes. With this high purity trichlorosilane, Tokuyama produces polysilicon with its purity of 99.999999999%, or eleven decimal places.
There are two major applications for polysilicon. One of the applications is singlecrystal ingot for semiconductor-use silicon wafers, which are used for the substrate for semiconductors and IC chips. Demand for polysilicon for semiconductors has expanded along with strong demand for digital consumer electronics, such as PCs, cellular phones, digital cameras, DVD recorders, and flat-panel TVs. The other application is as a material for solar cells. While our polysilicon business started to provide materials for semiconductor use, with interest rising in renewable energy, demand for polysilicon in solar cells is also increasing.
In light of stronger demand, Tokuyama expanded its polysilicon production capacity by 3,000 tons per year in March 2009, to a total production capacity of 8,200 tons. In the growing field of solar cells, customers are demanding lower-cost materials to further proliferate. In response to these demands, Tokuyama is advancing research and development of new vapor to liquid deposition (VLD) production technologies that dramatically improve efficiency over current production methods for polycrystalline silicon for solar cells.
In the Electronic Materials Business, Tokuyama also produces and supplies tetrachlorosilane, which is used for optical fiber and synthetic quartz; trichlorosilane, which is used for epitaxtial wafers; and high purity boron, which is a dopant for singlecrystalline silicon ingot.
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